positionsofstarsandconstellationsinthenightsky.
NoneofthesemomentousMesopotamianachievementswouldhavebeenpossible
without writing and the urban institution of schools, where students read and
copiedearlierwrittentablets,andwheresomeboysweretrainedtobecomenot
record keepers for the administration, but intellectuals who could build on the
workoftheirpredecessors.
Wewouldbemistakenifwethinkthatthepreoccupationwiththeurbanworldof
Mesopotamiaisamodernphenomenon.Letuslook,finally,attwoearlyattempts
tolocateandpreservethetextsandtraditionsofthepast.
AnEarlyLibrary
Intheironage,theAssyriansofthenorthcreatedanempire,atitsheightbetween720and610bce,that
stretched as far west as Egypt. The state economy was now a predatory one, extracting labour and
tributeintheformoffood,animals,metalandcraftitemsfromavastsubjectpopulation.
ThegreatAssyriankings,whohadbeenimmigrants,acknowledgedthesouthernregion,Babylonia,asthe
centreofhighcultureandthelastofthem,Assurbanipal(668-627bce),collectedalibraryathiscapital,
Ninevehinthenorth.Hemadegreateffortstogathertabletsonhistory,epics,omenliterature,astrology,
hymnsandpoems.Hesenthisscribessouthtofindoldtablets.Becausescribesinthesouthweretrained
to read and write in schools where they all had to copy tablets by the dozen, there were towns in
Babylonia where huge collections of tablets were created and acquired fame. And although Sumerian
ceasedtobespokenafterabout1800bce,itcontinuedtobetaughtinschools,throughvocabularytexts,
signlists,bilingual(SumerianandAkkadian)tablets,etc.Soevenin650bce,cuneiformtabletswrittenas
farbackas2000bcewereintelligible–andAssurbanipal’smenknewwheretolookforearlytabletsor
theircopies.
Copies were made of important texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the copier stating his name and
writingthedate.SometabletsendedwithareferencetoAssurbanipal:
‘I,Assurbanipal,kingoftheuniverse,kingofAssyria,onwhomthegodsbestowedvastintelligence,who
couldacquirethereconditedetailsofscholarlyerudition,Iwrotedownontabletsthewisdomofthegods
…AndIcheckedandcollatedthetablets.Iplacedthemforthefutureinthelibraryofthetempleofmy
god,Nabu, at Nineveh, for my lifeandthewell-being of mysoul, andtosustainthefoundations of my
royalthrone…’
Moreimportant,therewascataloguing:abasketoftabletswouldhaveaclaylabelthatread:‘nnumberof
tabletsaboutexorcism,writtenbyX’.Assurbanipal’slibraryhadatotalofsome1,000texts,amountingto
about30,000tablets,groupedaccordingtosubject.